Page 38 - link magazine

38 swindonlink.com • December 2008
Still smiling after biking around the world

An epic motorbike journey, which took Freshbrook dentist Brendan Ball and his wife Natasha from Canada to Europe, via Japan and Russia
has proved that you can meet and make friends in the most unlikely of places.
The founder members of Smile when her husband worked at Hon- in the accident.
Menders, set out in June on the da, acted as interpreter. They made Drivers were re-
ten week road trip to highlight the a poignant visit to Hiroshima, with luctant to help
challenges faced by people affected obvious connections to Ukraine and Natasha had
by radiation and poverty. Their where people are still living with to pretend to faint
adventure started in Canada, with the after effects of the Chernobyl at the roadside
an easy start riding across the fl at nuclear accident. before someone
prairies where they came across A ferry ride took them from Japan fi nally stopped to
several emigrants from Natasha’s to Russia where the contrast in road assist.
homeland who spotted the Ukrai- conditions and infrastructure was The poverty
nian fl ag on their BMW. immense. Driving on one heav- of eastern Rus-
The next leg of the journey began ily rutted road, the bike slipped sia made a mark.
in Japan where a friend, who lived away from them and the couple Most houses still
in Lydiard Millicent for two years were badly shaken and bruised have only out-
side toilets and
Brendan said that
GARY VARDY MOBILE he could smell
villages long be-
Motorcycle Repairs CAR REPAIRS fore he could see Homage to the Hiroshima Peace Garden
them. Hotel accommodation was couple learned of the sudden out-
Servicing & Tuning • Servicing equally poor and in one town they break of war with the former Soviet
30 years experience • Repairs were obliged to share a room with state of Georgia. Brendan said, “we
felt really very vulnerable because
six strangers.
• Brakes
Factory trained • Exhausts Crossing the Urals marked the we were quite close to where the
Honda • Suzuki • M.O.T. transition from East to West and the fi ghting was taking place; the Rus-
start of insurance cover; which was sians were very aggressive about
Kawasaki • Yamaha • Free call out impossible to obtain for the fi rst part their upstart neighbours.”
• No VAT of the Russian journey. Arriving in Crossing the border with Ukraine
Call (01793) 481008 • Engine Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, the was an ordeal, with hostile customs
Mob: 07787 183719 diagnostics hotel receptionist commented on and border guards insisting on the
Unit 91, Pembroke Centre, SLATER’S MOBILE SERVICES Brendan’s New Zealand passport couple unloading and repacking
which she had never seen before. all their possessions twice. Once
Cheney Manor Estate, Swindon Tel: 079999 44262 Within an hour, to everyone’s great safely across, there was time to see
surprise, three more New Zealand- Natasha’s mother and to visit the
ers arrived and one of the party dental hospital in Cherkassy which
came from Brendan’s childhood Smile Menders has supported over
MOBILE CAR SERVICING & REPAIRS home town near Otago. the years.
★ Engine diagnostics ★ Welding ★ Electrical work Riding through southern Russia, After an uneventful journey
★ MoTs arranged (no re-test fee) they noticed helicopters overhead, across Europe, the relieved bikers
For a reliable local service with over 30 years experience fi ghters taking off from an airfi eld arrived back in Swindon in Septem-
and armoured vehicles on the roads. ber. “We’re still alive and very lucky
(No VAT to pay) Later in the day on Russian TV, the to get back home with just a few
CALL GRAHAM ON (01793) 873045 or 07867 556350 bruises,” said Brendan.
“We’re told very few
people manage to do the
whole trip with a pillion
passenger. Natasha is
solid gold; she was ab-
solutely brilliant.”
Unreadable signs and rutted
unmade roads in eastern
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